STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 231 



This acarian la the most formidable enemy of the apple hark louse extant, and is far 

 more effectual than all other combined restraints in nature, the most zealous ctrorts of 

 liKin Included, excepting the climatic and epidemic influences of more southern regions, 

 where it is found impossible t'"r the bark louse to flourish. Many a patent nostrum, as 

 well as the more public remedies — trashes, substances deposited in holes in the trunk of 

 the tree, etc., etc., have stolen all tlnir reputation from this little, microscopic enemy. 

 In these nostrums, etc., thousands of dollars in money and labor have been cheerfully 

 paid, while this the true working remedy has up to within the last year, passed unob- 

 served. Last year when I discovered it, I considered it of great importance; but now 

 after fully completing its natural history, I know that its importance is mnch greater 

 than I then anticipated. 



About the bark Louse, I have learned, by actual observation, that the old theory 

 regarding their distribution is evidently quite true, "That winds may carry them from 

 tree to tree." For, as I have proven that they fall to the ground in great numbers, it 

 i- easy to understand that strong winds will carry such small creatures, often to a great 

 distance, and that the inseei is able to travel a comparatively long distance, within a day 

 or two, under favorable conditions. For, although I have heretofore proven and pub- 

 lished, that they attach themselves to the bark on the same day of their exit from 

 beneath the parent scale, when able to do so, being on the tree ; yet when removed from 

 the tree they will under favorable circumstances live and travel around several days in 

 quest of food. They are incessant travelers, continually moving on, and therefore travel 

 over more ground than a hasty observation would indicate. My observations have prov- 

 en that they are entirely capable of getting from one tree to another, in an orchard 

 without the aid of birds; their/>wn locomotion and winds being quite sufficient. And, 

 as noted on the 27th of May, I found them on the side of the barn, where the foot of a 

 bird could find no resting place. 



Furthermore, I have killed some birds in the orchard, but never found a single bark 

 louse on their feet ; the spring of 1887, with us, would have been a much better season 

 to test this, than the spring of 1808, because in 18G7 the bark lice nearly all hatched in 

 one fine day, as I then observed, on the 9th of June; while this year they began to 

 appear much earlier, about the 20th of May, and continued to hatch during a period of 

 about three weeks. Consequently, a fewer number were on the march at any one time 

 therefore, I would be less likely to find them on birds' feet this year. 



The dissemination of such an idea that the birds are the sole cause of the spread of 

 bark lice, is a very remarkable thing to come from the State Entomologist, and must not 

 go before the world as a mere theory — a mere theory as it appears to me, after all my 

 long and close series of observation-. Yet I cannot persuade myself that the talented 

 gentleman uttered so momentous a proposition, without due consideration. 1 have 

 done what I could iii the past year, with an unbiased mind, to examine this theory criti- 

 cally, and so far as I have gone, find it not correct. My observations, herewith submit- 

 ted, prove beyond dispute that the hark louse does spread without the aid of birds ; and 

 1 have not been able to prove thai they do anything towards spreading the hark louse. I 

 hope that others may have investigated this important subject also, and thai you may, 

 therefore, get more Ughi than I have been able to bring before you. The question is big 

 with importance; shall we condemn the birds or not? Shall we venture to sanction the 

 extirmination of 80 important a branch of the animal kingdom as the feathered song- 

 sters, without the most careful deliberation, and untiring observations f Would not so 



